Hickory Nut Gap
Field Trips & Tours
Visitors are welcome to come out and enjoy the farm anytime during normal business hours. This is a self-guided endeavor, but if you’d like a more in-depth look at the farm guided by staff, we offer several tour options.
Dedicated to fostering a deep curiosity about the food we eat, the environment, and how it all works together.
We are passionate about farming and we love to share stories and knowledge with the community. We invite you to come and experience agriculture by learning the history, asking plenty of questions, and discovering how important sustainable farming is to our future.
Join a Guided Walking Tour!
All tours last approximately one hour and you can choose from a relatively easy, “low-impact” tour from 11am–12pm, or a more active, “high-impact” tour from 1pm–2pm. Make a day of it and grab lunch before or after!
School Field Trips
Hickory Nut Gap Farm offers tours year-round to school groups ranging from preschool to college-aged students.* Experience the farm with a 1-hour guided tour including animals, fruits, and bees with grade-level-appropriate topics and activities. Tour content can be modified to meet your individual curriculum needs.
The kids loved hearing about the baby farm animals. Their eyes lit up when they each got to hold a baby chick. What a great experience.
Use our online booking request tool (button below) to book a field trip. Contact Megan Auten with any questions. *Do you have an adult special-needs group? Get in touch with Megan to discuss a custom field trip.
What to Expect
Your class will orient with their guide(s) on safety, what to expect that day, and why they are there. They’ll learn about pollination and tour the berry fields, apple orchard, and animal pastures. Our animals are grazed rotationally, and students will get to see several animals up-close or in pasture!
Please let us know if you would like us to tailor the tour content to a specific area of study. Your guide will get the students participating in several games and activities throughout the tour to keep them engaged, and we will have several water stations throughout the property so everyone stays hydrated.
Cancellation
Canceled field trips forfeit their deposit.
We will run your field trip rain or shine, so dress accordingly! Be sure to check the weather the day before and plan appropriately: bug spray, sunscreen, hats, rain slickers, warm sweaters, and GOOD SHOES! We’ll be walking all over the grounds. Open-toed shoes are not advised, and remember the grass is wet in the mornings, even if it hasn’t rained!
What to Bring
To make the most of your visit, we suggest having the following items:
- Sunscreen
- Water bottles
- Comfortable shoes and and weather appropriate clothing for the day’s forecast
- Bagged lunches
- Any necessary allergy medication for bees or animals
- Field trip admission fee
- Hand sanitizer to use after handling animals
Additional Tips
Some Other Things to Make Your Trip Great
- Please provide name tags to all adults, chaperones, bus drivers, and teachers with your trip to help your guide communicate with you.
- Please be respectful around our animals. Your tour guide will provide great information and rules regarding what is allowed when interacting with the animals.
- We ask that children be supervised at all times and that children stay with their designated chaperone.
- Both bus and vehicle parking will be in the lower lot.
- Please pay for your tour upon arrival.
Cost
$7.50 per student
Teachers, bus drivers, and chaperones are free.
Groups of 40 or more students will be split up into smaller groups, each with their own guide, to ensure everyone has a great experience.
Scheduling
Field trips can be scheduled on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Available time slots for the structured portion of your field trip are 10am–11am and 10:30am–11:30am. After the tour, students are welcome to stay and enjoy the climbing web, tunnel slides, and creek, and eat their lunches in one of our picnic areas. During the fall, there are additional attractions, including a nature trail, hay bales, and a corn pit. Your group is welcome to stay for the duration of the day until the close of business.
Seasonal Open House
Once per season, we host an open house at the farm. We prepare and serve samples of our products, including meats raised on the farm and local goods we sell in the store. The highlight of the open house is a free farm tour with owner Jamie Ager. This is a one-hour walking tour of the farm, rain or shine! This is a unique opportunity to hear Jamie’s firsthand perspective of farm life and our production practices.
I learned so much about sustainable agriculture and the importance of biodiversity. I never knew farming was so important to our ecosystem.
Private Tour with Jamie Ager or Senior Staff
Private tours present an in-depth view of the farming systems and philosophy of Hickory Nut Gap Farm — perfect for those choosing agriculture as a potential future endeavor, looking for some fresh ideas, or just curious about the local farm scene in Western North Carolina.
This is a 1.5-hour walking tour with owner Jamie Ager or senior staff member.
Cost
$120 for a group of 12, plus $10 for each additional person.
Scheduling
Availability varies based on our seasonal farming schedule.